Asad Mahmood from Army wins ten stage of 16th Tour de Pakistan
Asad Mahmood from ARMY won the ten stage of Tour de Pakistan International cycle race. Asad Mahmood has succeeded in winning a stage by covering the distance of 150 kilo-metres in 3 hours, 48 minutes and 1 second.
Habibullah from Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) reached the finish line in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 11 seconds while his teammate Abudal Ahad from WAPDA finished third with timing of 3 hours, 49 minutes and 9 seconds.
Then followed the group finisher Waqas from Punjab, Hashmatullah Barakzai from Afghanistan and Mohammad Rafiq from Army took a fourth place with the same timing of Three hours, 52 minutes and 10 seconds.
16th Tour de Pakistan’s ten stage race took place from Gujarat to Rawalpindi. Fifty-six cyclists took part in the ten stage race.
While Asad Mahmmod won the ten day of the race but tour favourite, Sabir Ali from Wapda leading in overall classification. Due to this Sabir was beat relax in the ten stage and as a result conceded a part of his lead to Asad. Previously Sabir won the first
two stages but unfortunately he lost in the third and fourth stage. He does not lose his hopes and clinch the fifth, sixth and seven stage of the Tour de Pakistan cycle race.
Sabir Ali has a great chance of winning the race this season as last time Champion, Zahid Gulfam will not be taking part in the event because of a 2 year ban imposed upon him by the federation. Gulfam was banned after testing positive for using drugs
After the race Sabir said “I am pleased with my performance, with the lead I have got so far I am confident that I will lift the title easily”.
Previously Asad Mahmood did not perform upto the expectations in the race. But he was very happy with his performance after clinching the tenth stage.
He said “Cycling in the rain was more fun than just competing in the race,” “I took the lead when we were 50 km away from Rawalpindi.” He also added “During the last moments it felt like it’s just the three cyclists who are competing in the race.”
The prize distribution were held in Rawalpindi, chief guest Syed Shahid Ali, IOC member in Pakistan distributed the medals amongst all the winners of the race. The participants of the race will move to Abbottabad for the eleventh stage of the competition.
The cyclists will cover 150 kilo-metres in the last stage from Rawalpindi to Abbottabad. The cyclists will cover the overall 1620 kilo-metres in the race, they were competing for the prize money of $10,000.
The result of 10th stage of Tour de Pakistan:
1. Asad Mehmood from Army, 3hrs.48min:1sec,
2. Habibullah from SSGC 3hrs.48min:11sec,
3. Abdul Ahad from WAPDA, 3hrs.49min:9sec,
4. Waqas from Punjab, 3hrs.52min:10sec,
5. Hashmatullah Barakzai from Afghanistan, 3hrs.52min:10sec,
6. Mohammad Rafiq from Army, 3hrs.52min:10sec.